


And Then he Fell In

by Xazz



Series: R76 Valentine's Event [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted Children, Because im impatient, Crack, Family, First Date, Flirting, Kid Fic, M/M, Modern AU, Reaper76 Valentine's Week, fast burn, implied mcgenji, or semi modern idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:10:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10020212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xazz/pseuds/Xazz
Summary: Jack has a crush on one of his students' dad and while he really does feel bad that Jesse fell down a flight of stairs he does see it as the perfect opportunity to get to know Gabriel a little better.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I fell into dad!Gabe hell and I can’t get up. Dunno if I want to either.
> 
> Also ‘Gabby’ is Sombra, but for obvious reasons, her actual name isn’t Sombra because who would actually name their kid Sombra.
> 
> Title is a really lame joke about being so thirsty you just fell into the giant glass of water you were trying to drink IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN *eyebrow waggle*

The morning was always the hardest part of the day for Gabe. At least when he had both his kids. When it was just Jesse it was fine, he could deal with sullen going-through-puberty teenage boy and get him out the door to the bus stop easily. Just throw a pop tart at him, make sure he wasn’t wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and he had his homework and kick him out the door he was fine. Gabby was an entirely different issue because you just didn’t tell a three year old to do _anything_. You had to wrestle them for it. Most of the time Gabe won but it was still a struggle to get her into some goddamn clothes and to daycare.

He was struggling to get Gabby to eat her fucking breakfast when Jesse came up to him and very quietly slipped a folded up paper on the table and walked off while he was distracted. Or he thought Gabe was distracted. Gabe saw him, he just let Jesse get away with it because the kid thought he was slick. Once he got another spoonful of cereal into Gabby’s mouth he opened up the paper. He could hear Jesse, very loudly, getting himself ready for school in his bedroom, like he was making a point about it. He side eyed the kid even though Jesse wasn’t in sight and looked at the paper.

“Jesse!” he yelled, smacking the paper down on the table.

“Jesse!” Gabby yelled as well. Far happier than her father.

Jesse peered out from his room. “Yeah?”

“Get out here.”

“I’m getting ready for school-

“Well I’ll drive you if you miss the bus. Get your punk ass out here.”

“Oooo, _papí_ you said a bad word,” Gabby said and pointed at him.

Jesse shuffled out from his bedroom back to the table, dragging his feet the entire way. Gabe was fuming more than a little bit. “So, why were you sent to detention this time?”

Jesse made a face. “Some kids were making fun of me,” he said, folding his arms, looking away.

“Jess, we’ve talking about this. You can’t go picking fights in school.”

“They were saying I was adopted-

“Jesse you _are_ adopted. I fucking adopted you for a reason. Which is more than probably half those kids you go to school with could say since they just happened because a condom broke.” Jesse flushed a little because he was a teenager and any mention of sex got him flustered. “It’s not _bad_ that you’re adopted.”

“I know,” Jesse sighed. “It still makes me feel bad when they make fun of me for it. Or ask me if my ‘real’ parents wanted me.”

“Well fuck them. They didn’t. I did.”

“ _Papí_ you said a bad word again,” Gabby chimed in but Gabe barely heard her.

“Now tell me this is the only bad thing I’m going to hear at this parent-teacher meeting,” Gabe said, looking Jesse in the eye. Jesse nodded. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“I’m not failing,” Jesse said, knowing that was what he meant.

“Good,” Gabe said. Then he stood up and gave Jesse a hug. “I adopted you because I care about you. Don’t forget that.” Jesse just nodded into his chest. “Now don’t miss the bus,” he let go and Jesse went to grab his bag. Gabe watched him leave and then turned back to Gabby who’d spilled half the milk out of her cereal bowl. He sighed. Why were his children both complete disasters? He cleaned Gabby up, made her eat a bit more of her breakfast. Then he picked her up out of her highchair with a grunt. “Come on _mi sombrita_ ,” he said and put her in his room so she could play with some of her toys there while he got dressed for work.

—

Jack checked the time again. His last meeting had ended about fifteen minutes ago and his next one was ten minutes late. He’d never met Jesse’s father before. Jesse was a good student so he couldn’t imagine his father was as disastrous as some of the other parents he’d met the past week. Ones that obviously had no interest in their children’s education or who let their children do whatever they wanted and didn’t like how strict was on them in homeroom. He’d heard all the complaints and had a few of his own. For Jesse he didn’t have many really. Just that he could be provoked by kids to get into fist fights with them and seemed unmotivated.

While he waited he worked but it was still so weird that Mr. Reyes was so late. Jesse had assured him his father would be coming. He was still waiting almost half an hour before his door opened. Jack looked up and was not expecting a cop. Even though it was totally unreasonable he was still horrified and thought they were here for him for something he’d done. They were a tall black guy with a perfectly pressed, blue, uniform that seemed almost too small for them and literally had arms the size of watermelons. It didn’t help they were wearing mirrored aviators which made the entire thing more threatening than it needed to be. Who the hell was this? Jack didn’t wilt but he did shift back a little in concern. “Are you Jack Morrison?” they asked.

“Yes?” Jack said slowly, unsure of himself. Why was a cop in his classroom and asking who he was?

“So sorry I’m late,” they said removing their aviators which helped humanize them. “I was… well, fighting crime.”

“Who are you?” he asked but god that line was so cheesy.

“Gabriel Reyes, Jesse’s father. Nice to meet you,” he said and had crossed the classroom by now to offer his hand to Jack.

Jack stared a little even as he shook Mr. Reyes’ hand. Holy shit. Totally an inappropriate thought but Jesse’s dad was _hot_ as fuck. Should really not be thinking like that of a married man. Mr. Reyes was married right? Shit he couldn’t remember. He had to assume he was married because he had a kid. Even though Jesse looked _nothing_ like Mr. Reyes. It took Jack a moment to remember Jesse was adopted. Right. So maybe he wasn’t married. That was good or something right?

“Nice to meet you too,” Jack said and Mr. Reyes let go of his hand.

“Again, sorry about being late. Jesse didn’t tell me till literally this morning and I had to work something out with my boss and had to pick up my daughter from daycare- ah sorry. Not important. Just unprofessional.” Jack felt his hopes sink a little. He had a daughter too? So maybe he was married. Why were all the hot ones married?

“It’s alright. I was staying late anyway to get some work done,” Jack lied. He’d been getting some work done because he’d been made to stay late but the order wasn’t really that important. “Please have a seat.” Mr. Reyes looked behind him, saw only desks and sat on the desk. At this angle Jack was basically looking at his chest and this was really distracting and incredibly unprofessional. At the very least he kept the meeting professional and kept his eyes on Mr. Reyes’ face about ninety-five percent of the time. The other five percent he’d glance down at his chest or legs then back up because good god Jack get it the fuck together. They talked about Jesse’s grades and his work ethic and his temperament, especially how he got into fights with other kids. Mr. Reyes listened attentively to everything Jack said and asked questions about how Jesse was doing and what he could do to help him improve.

By the end of the meeting Jack was completely smitten. But he also knew it was inappropriate to flirt with one of his students’ parents, not to mention what if Mr. Reyes _was_ married? Jack would be horrified if he flirted with a married man. He’d done that before once. Had accidentally ruined a marriage. Didn’t want to do that again. He also knew he couldn’t ask any probing questions without looking like he was fishing. So he just had to sit there, in agony, with a weird instant crush on his student’s father.

Mr. Reyes shook his hand again when the meeting was over and thanked him for his time with a smile. Jack didn’t show any exterior change but inside he completely melted. God he was even more handsome when he smiled. This was just unfair. Jack heard himself say, ‘have a nice night’ but hardly remembered it because as Mr. Reyes walked out he was staring at his ass in tight police pants. When he was gone Jack leaned back in his chair having a minor existential crisis. Holy _shit_ he was so gay this was an issue. He whined a little to himself. He’d probably never have a reason to see Mr. Reyes again outside of another parent-teacher meeting either. This was torture.

Muttering under his breath Jack closed out of his computer and packed up his things. Mr. Reyes had been the last meeting he had tonight and he wanted to go home, order Chinese food, and watch TV while grading papers. Then maybe cry a little because Jesse’s dad was so hot it was so unfair.

—

Gabe was in his patrol car when his phone rang. His partner, who was driving, eyed him even as he checked it. Why was Jesse calling him? He knew better than to call him at work. At least unless it was an emergency. That made him answer it right away. “Hello?”

“Dad,” Jesse said and that got all sorts of warning bells going. Jesse was still awkward about calling him ‘dad’ and only did when he was especially upset.

“Hey, Jess, what’s up?” he kept a calm voice so whatever it was Jesse would be calling him about at work wouldn’t seem quite as bad.

“I uh… fell down a flight of stairs at school.”

“What? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Great, just what he fucking needed, a hurt kid. He immediately checked out of where they were driving to focus on what Jesse was saying.

“Yeah and… yeah,” he said softly. “I hurt my leg and arm. Mr. Morrison said I didn’t break anything but I should probably go home. Can you come pick me up?”

Gabriel looked at the clock and swore in his head. Unfortunately his boss was a real hard ass and wouldn’t let him off the beat to go get his son. He hated having to tell Jesse but he did say, “I’m sorry, Jess, I can’t come get you till after my shift. Can you tough it out in the nurse’s office until I can come get you?”

“I guess,” Jesse said, sounding defeated.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, alright?” No answer. “Jesse I can’t hear you if you just nod your head.”

“Okay,” he said weakly.

“Alight. As soon as I’m done,” he promised.

“Okay.”

Gabe hung up and rubbed his face. “Everything all right?” Amélie asked cooly, snapping her bubblegum.

“My kid fell down a fucking flight of stairs at school,” Gabe groaned and slouched a bit.

Amélie said nothing for a second. “Are you sure he’s adopted? Because that seems a lot like you,” she teased him.

“Shut the fuck up Lacroix,” Gabe grumbled and Amélie just snickered at him.

Gabe watched the clock his entire patrol. Then, just when it got to the last half hour there was an issue. There had been a shooting and dispatch had called in extra cars to deal with the situation. Half an hour after his shift was over, while he was basically standing around closing off the crime scene, Gabe got a call from Jesse again. He couldn’t pick up and just sent a ‘text me’ in response.

‘Where are you?’

Gabe’s heart broke a little. Shit shit shit. He’d told Jesse he’d come get him but here he was, still at work. ‘I’m working a scene. I’ll be there as soon as I can’ he promised.

Another fifteen minutes went by and Gabe was _still_ there and Jesse’s school had let out over an hour ago. He got another text from his son, ‘my teacher wants to talk to you’. Well shit. This was just fucking great. _Great_. He was about to get chewed out by one of Jesse’s teachers for being a shitty parent because he couldn’t come get him son after he’d fallen down a flight of stairs. Wonderful.

‘Alright’ and he stepped away from the crime scene. Really he was just there to keep some order, the detectives, EMTs, and forensics were doing some actual work. Jesse called him and he picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey, dad, Mr. Morrison wanted to talk to you.”

Gabe held back a sigh. “Alright.”

He steeled himself for something bad. “Hello? Mr. Reyes, it’s Jack Morrison, Jesse’s home room teacher. He’s been in my room since the end of school and said you were going to come pick him up but I’m about to leave for the day.” Shit shiiiiiit. “I was wondering if you’d be alright with me taking Jesse home since you’re in the middle of something?”

Gabe was very glad Mr. Morrison couldn’t see the look of surprise on his face. “Uh… really?” he asked. He’d never heard of such a thing and hated himself for being a little suspicious. Why would Mr. Morrison offer that?

“Yes. With your permission of course. I hate seeing him just sitting around pathetically waiting for you to come get him.” In the background he heard Jesse yell something.

“Let me talk to my son,” Gabe said. He heard a distant, ‘He wants to talk to you’ as the phone was handed from Mr. Morrison to Jesse.

“Yeah?”

“El señor Morrison se ofreció a llevarte a casa por mi. ¿Te sientes cómodo con eso?” he asked.

“Yeah. Es amable. No da miedo..”

Gabe had a minor sense of recognition. “¿Fue él que conocí el mes pasado en la junta de padres?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Bueno, si estás cómodo con él entonces me parece bien.”

“Sí, es un verdadero nerd,” Jesse said sarcastically. “Do you want to talk to him again?”

“Tell him he has my permission and if he needs more than that you can put him back on,” Gabe said.

He heard Jesse repeat what he’d said and then into the mic he said, “He said alright. ¿Estás cómodo con él sabiendo dónde vivimos?”

“He’s a white nerd, you really think I’m intimidated?” Gabe asked and Jesse laughed a little. “When you get home just hang out I’ll be there as soon as I pick up your sister.”

“Okay,” Jesse said.

They said goodbye and Gabe went back to what he was doing. He got released twenty minutes later thank _God_ and he and Amélie went back to the station. Gabe didn’t even bother changing out of his uniform and just got in his car and drove to Gabby’s daycare where she was one of the last ones waiting to get picked up because fuck Gabe’s work like seriously. Once he had his little shadow he drove home, avoiding as much LA traffic as humanly possible. There was a car in front of his house. Was Mr. Morrison still here? He unbuckled Gabby from her car seat and carried her inside.

Jesse was inside, laid out on the couch and, of all fucking things, his teacher was in the kitchen looking for something. When Gabe opened the door Jesse sat up, “Dad,” he said, smiling.

“Hey. I’m so sorry it took so long,” he said as he set Gabby down. She immediately tried to take off her pants and Gabe gave her ear a slightly less then gentle tug. Not hard, just a ‘stop that’. “Esperate a que se vaya la visita,” he told her sternly. She pursed her lips at him but did stop and went to sit in front of the TV which Jesse had on.

“It’s alright. I know,” Jesse said.

Gabe was torn between checking on him and the stranger in his kitchen who’d stopped rummaging around in the cabinets when Gabe had come in. Jesse could wait a second. What the hell was this guy doing in there? He went over to the kitchen to investigate and found Mr. Morrison with a pill bottle in his hand. “Hi,” he said awkwardly.

Gabe didn’t get any creepy or threatening vibes for him. It was still fucking weird. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for some Tylenol to help with Jesse’s hurt leg.”

That seemed reasonable. He held his hand out and Mr. Morrison put the pill bottle in it. “Thanks for bringing my son home,” he said.

“Of course,” Mr. Morrison said. “I suggest taking him to see an actual doctor tomorrow since the nurse wasn’t really allowed to do much for him.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I have one of those?” Jesse called from the couch.

Gabe looked over and went over to the couch. Someone had wrapped Jesse’s foot up in pressure binding, and there were band-aids and gauze wrapped around his hand a wrist. He recognized the cartoon band-aids he’d bought because Gabby was prone to running into things and giving herself little scrapes. Somehow bandaids with cartoons on them fixed hurts better and faster than normal bandaids. But still, Jesus, what the hell had happened?

“Well, since you’re here I should get going,” Mr. Morrison said.

“Thanks, again,” Gabe said.

“No problem,” Mr. Morrison said. “Honestly he was depressing hanging out in my classroom. I’ve never seen someone so sullenly do science homework in my life. So I’m glad I brought him here so he could be depressing somewhere else.” That made Gabe laugh a little.

At the very least he shook Mr. Morrison’s hand before he left and then turned back to his battered son. “So how did you manage to fall down a flight of stairs?” Gabe asked as he opened the pill bottle and handed Jesse one. He swallowed it with some water. Jesse just shrugged. “C’mon, tell me. Someone didn’t push you did they?”

“No,” he admitted. “I was trying to slide down the handrail,” and as he said it he blushed.

“You almost broke your leg because you were trying to show off to a girl?” Gabe asked, blank faced. He was glad Amélie wasn’t here because he could just imagine her ‘yeah, I don’t believe he’s actually adopted when he pulls the same shit you do, Reyes’.

“Not exactly?” Jesse squeaked. “There’s… this cute Japanese boy in my class,” he said shyly. Gabe mentally waved away Amélie’s obnoxious laughter at the irony.

Gabe just sighed like the most put-upon father in the entire world. “Jesse. You don’t need to do stupid shit to get boys to notice you. Just be nice to them. Trust me they’ll be so caught off guard with the flirting they won’t be able to help it. Don’t go sliding down railings in your school to impress them that’s just so dumb- _Sombrita_ I don’t want these,” he said looking down at his daughter who as standing in front of him, offering him her pants. “They won’t fit.”

“No?” she asked and looked absolutely shocked that her tiny pants wouldn’t fit her six foot two father.

“No.” He turned his attention back to Jesse, “Did the nurse bandage you up?”

“No-

“No?” Gabe was a hair away from outraged.

“Mr. Morrison found me and went and got his first aid kit. After he wrapped up my leg and hand he helped me to the nurse’s office.”

“He did?” Gabe looked over the wrapping again.

“Yeah. Said he used to be an army medic so he just keeps a full first aid kit around. More helpful than the school nurse,” he huffed.

“Did you thank him?”

“Uh-huh. A bunch of time,” Jesse assured him.

“Good,” Gabe sat next to him on the couch. “And nothing’s broke?”

“Mr. Morrison and the nurse both said nothing was broken. But I might have pulled something pretty bad. I can’t really walk on my own. I used some crutches to go hang out at Mr. Morrison’s room but had to give them back when he left the school.”

“Alright. That’s good.” Then he sighed. “I need to get someone to cover for me tomorrow so I can take you to the doctor.”

“Sorry,” Jesse said weakly.

“I’m not mad,” Gabe assured him. “I’m honestly surprised it took you _this_ long to almost break a bone.” Jesse just grinned sheepishly. “After I get someone to cover how about we order pizza for dinner?”

“Yeah! Shit- ow-

“Ooo, Jesse said a bad word _papí_ ,” Gabby pointed at Jesse accusingly.

“It’s fine, Gabby. He just hurt himself,” Gabe said and gave Jesse a fond hair ruffle as he morosely laid out on the couch. He took out his phone as he went to go change into some normal clothes and make some calls to get someone to work his shift tomorrow. As he did Gabby followed after him like the little shadow he called her.

—

Jack was only sort of daydreaming during his off period in the middle of the day. He was also working on his lesson plan but he was mostly day dreaming. He really should be trying to get some more work done. Like finish grading papers or getting things ready for his next class. Instead, he was thinking about probably about the worst thing ever and lusting after one of his students’ fathers. It was so stupid too because he’d only met Mr. Reyes twice. But both times he’d been in his super well-fitted officer uniform he swore was a little too small because that was the only reason he could think of why it was so tight across the chest and arms. Also how the hell did he manage to pull off a figure with that utility belt that added twenty pounds? Maybe it was his thighs.

Jack groaned and covered his face. He shouldn’t be thinking about Jesse’s dad. It was so weird and inappropriate. He focused on his lesson plan and eating his lunch. Before he knew it the bell for next class was ringing and he had to get his act together. No more daydreaming about Mr. Reyes.

He managed to deal with the rest of the day without his mind wandering and then his last class left for the day but he stayed to do some more work before he went home. He had a test to grade and wanted to get at least two periods graded before he went home where he had to grade yesterday’s homework. It was times like these he was glad he taught science and not English. He could get away with basically nothing but multiple choice or fill in the blank worksheets which made grading easier with only one or two assignments a week out of the book that required actual written responses. The English teachers always sighed about the essays they had to grade because this was middle school and middle schoolers wrote like garbage.

He worked diligently for about half an hour when there was a knock on his door. Why would someone knock? That was weird. It wasn’t the janitors. They didn’t come through the classrooms on this side of the school later and they wouldn’t have knocked. They just came in, changed the garbage and spot cleaned the floor if there was anything truly disgusting on it. “Yes?” he called hesitantly.

The door opened and Jack _nearly_ had a heart attack. It was Mr. Reyes. He wasn’t in his work uniform and Jack almost didn’t recognize him if it wasn’t for the facial hair or the fact that Jack didn’t know anyone else who had shoulders as big as him. He was wearing a hoodie, beanie, and a pair of jeans like a normal human being and held a little girl on one arm like she weighed nothing. What was he doing here? Had he changed his mind that Jack had been at his house? He stayed calm despite that. “Mr. Reyes… what can I do for you?”

Mr. Reyes put the girl down and said something to her in Spanish before coming over to his desk. Jack did his best not to look flustered and mostly succeeded. “Sorry for interrupting you, I just felt like I didn’t properly convey my thanks yesterday with Jesse.”

“Oh— it’s no problem at all,” Jack said. Just be cool Jack. Just be cool and everything would work out fine.

“I hope you didn’t take it the wrong way yesterday. Coming home to Jesse all messed up did a number on me so I’m sorry if I appeared rude.”

“I can only imagine it must have been stressful knowing you couldn’t come get him all day on top of what you do every day,” Jack said. This was going surprisingly well.

“You really helped me out so I feel like I owe you one.” Please just let me suck your dick and we’ll be even, Jack thought totally out of nowhere. His face didn’t change from pleasant but he was shocked he’d just thought that. “Or I should make it up to you for going so out of your way for Jesse when you didn’t have to.”

“Oh, it really wasn’t any trouble at all,” Jack assured him.

“I insist. Maybe just coffee so you don’t fall asleep on all those papers?” he nodded at the five stacks of papers from his five classes neatly organized on Jack’s desk. Jack hardly noticed. All he heard was that Mr. Reyes wanted to take him out for coffee. “Least I could do.”

“I- uh—!!! Sure. Sure,” Jack stammered. “Just uh- give me a minute to pack up my stuff.”

“Of course, no rush,” Mr. Reyes said and left his desk to go look for his daughter. “¿ _Mi sombrita,_ where did you go?” he called in a sing-song voice and across the classroom came a maniacal giggle. Jack quickly threw his things into their folders to keep things organized and threw all of those into his bag along with his personal tablet and the rest of his stuff. He heard more giggling but only glanced up a little briefly to catch Mr. Reyes stalking through the rows of desk chairs looking for his daughter. He double checked everything was in his satchel before getting out of his chair. “Gotcha!” Mr. Reyes said and he picked his daughter up and gave her a fond shake, making her laugh. Only then did he turn to see if Jack was ready and Jack was just standing there wondering if he had actual hearts in his eyes or if he just felt like they were there. “Ready?” he asked Jack.

“Yeah,” Jack said.

“Great.”

Jack and Mr. Reyes walked out and since this was LA there was a coffee shop down the block so they didn’t have to go far. “Is Jesse alright?” he asked as they made it out of the school. “He wasn’t at school today.”

“I had to take him to the doctor. They said he needed to keep off his feet for the next week or so because of a badly pulled tendon.”

“Oh dear. That seems really serious.”

“He’ll be fine,” Gabe said. “Just needs some rest and the doctor said he’d be fine.”

“So he’s at home with his mother?” Jack was totally fishing but he didn’t care. Please don’t be married. Please don’t be married.

“Huh? Oh, no. He’s home alone. I asked him if he wanted to come but he was more interested in being a slug,” Mr. Reyes shrugged and rolled his eyes a little.

“Right,” Jack said slowly. “Well, I’m just glad he’s alright. Got quite a scare when Genji showed up in my class and told me he’d fallen.”

“Genji… he’s not Japanese is he?”

“He is. Why?”

Mr. Reyes chuckled. “No reason. My son is just an idiot. Did Genji tell you _why_ Jesse fell down a flight of stairs?”

Jack didn’t see how that was relevant or humorous. The kid had been hurt. “No.”

“Well let me assure you he just made a real dumb mistake and now has to spend the next week in bed, which is going to be torture for him.” Now Jack wanted to know but didn’t pry. They’d arrived at the Starbucks by now. Mr. Reyes pulled out a sticky note and read off an order Jack assumed was for Jesse then Mr. Reyes ordered for himself and his daughter. “And whatever he’s having,” he nodded at Jack. “Get whatever, my treat.”

Thankfully Jack didn’t have a very complicated drink order. Mr. Reyes paid and they waited over at the pickup window. Jack was quiet for a second before asking, “So, what’s her name?” he asked, meaning the little girl who was very intently watching the barista.

“This is Gabby, my youngest,” Mr. Reyes said.

“I don’t mean to be rude but I just know about Jesse… she yours?”

Mr. Reyes got a very hard look in his eyes and Jack did his best not to wilt. “They’re _both_ mine.” Okay, touchy topic.

“Of course,” Jack said. “I just didn’t know Jesse had a sister.”

“Neither did Jesse,” Mr. Reyes said.

“ _Papí_ ,” and that was all Jack got from the Spanish. He knew a little Spanish but kid Spanish was like kid English and sort of hard to decode unless you knew all the working parts.

“I got you hot chocolate. Did you not want hot chocolate?” More Spanish from Gabby. Mr. Reyes leaned on the bar. “Hey, I’m sorry. Could we possibly swap that hot chocolate for an apple juice instead? Apparently, I didn’t ask before I ordered.”

“Oh— sure.”

“ _Papí_ , _papí_ -“ she tugged on his beard.

“What?” He listened. “No, you aren’t getting apple juice _and_ hot chocolate. Now, do you want the apple juice or the hot chocolate?”

She pouted at him, folding her arms crossly. “Apple juice,” she said.

“Alright then. You’re getting apple juice.”

Jack was just standing there wondering if he was dreaming. He pinched himself on the sly. Nope, didn’t wake up. He’d really just watched the cutest thing in existence for real. Then the drinks were being put out on the bar. Jack picked up his. “Thanks for the coffee,” he said as Mr. Reyes got a cup and straw so Gabby didn’t get the apple juice all over herself.

“No problem,” Mr. Reyes had to put Gabby down to deal with a drink tray and she immediately started complaining until he shoved the small cup of juice into her hands.

“Jesse’s going to be out for the next week?” he asked as they left the Starbucks.

“At least,” Mr. Reyes said as they headed back to the school. “They said after a week to bring him back so they could check up on him.”

Jack felt awkward even as he said, “If you wanted I could bring him some of his school work so he doesn’t fall behind. I figure you’re too busy to come by and get the school work.”

“Really? That’s real nice of you,” Mr. Reyes said.

“Only if you don’t mind me coming by your house to drop them off, Mr. Reyes.”

“Please, call me Gabriel. Mr. Reyes makes me feel old.” Jack’s heart jumped right up into his throat. This was good. This was really good. Now just stay cool Jack. Stay cool. “And I can’t say I mind. It’ll give Jesse something to do other than mope around and complain about not being able to go play soccer with his friends.”

“I assume he’ll be by himself tomorrow?”

“I have off tomorrow during the day so I’ll be there.”

“Alright,” Jack said. “I’ll stop by after school with his work.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled,” Mr. Reyes said sarcastically. Even though he said he'd call him Gabriel Jack was attempting to keep a professional distance at least in his head. “Who doesn’t like doing school work when you’re sick?” That made Jack laugh. “You don’t have any homework I could give him now, do you?”

“Uh…” Jack thought. He tried not to assign homework every day both for his students and his own sanity. Had he assigned homework to his homeroom today? “He actually doesn’t have any from me today.”

“Really? Or are you just saying because you feel bad for him?”

Jack laughed a little. “No. He really doesn’t have any homework today. I’m benevolent sometimes.”

They’d made it back to the school by now and were in the parking lot. Mr. Reyes had parked in the visitor parking area. “Alright, I’ll let him know he’s off the hook tonight then.” They turned out to be at Mr. Reyes’ car too because he put the drink tray on top of the car, opened the door and put Gabby into the car seat.

“Thanks for the coffee, again,” Jack said.

Mr. Reyes turned over his shoulder with a smile and Jack wondered if his heart had stopped for a second. Holy shit. _Holy shit_. “No problem. Was my pleasure.” That didn’t have to be the only thing that was his pleasure. Jack mentally slapped himself. Get it the fuck together. Thankfully he had a few seconds to compose himself while Mr. Reyes buckled Gabby into her car seat properly. Then he stood up, closed the door and turned back to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Morrison, or do you prefer Jack?”

“Ah-uh— Jack’s fine,” Jack stammered. For a second he couldn’t remember why he’d be seeing Mr. Reyes tomorrow but then he remembered, right, bringing Jesse his school work. Focus. Nothing weird about bringing Jesse his school work while he was injured.

“Can I see your phone?” Jack didn’t even think to ask why. Honestly, Mr. Reyes could have asked him anything and he would have done it. He was still sort of getting over that smile of his. He unlocked his phone and handed it to Mr. Reyes and he did something with it then handed it back. “Text me if you get lost.”

“Oh. Sure,” Jack nodded.

“Have fun with that,” Mr. Reyes nodded at his satchel full of work and then got into his car. Jack waved a little as he pulled away.

Only once he was out of sight did Jack slump against the car next to him. “Holy fuck,” he said to himself. Then he realized he had Mr. Reyes’ phone number on his phone. His _personal_ phone number. He looked around a little wondering if he was being punk’d or something because this was some Disney movie shit right here. It didn’t look like it. Meaning that this was real and happening. He swore this only happened in those trashy fanfictions he used to read as a kid. But here it was, happening in real life.

After a minute he pulled himself together and checked the number Mr. Reyes had put in. It was just under Gabriel which was easy to spot because he didn’t know any other Gabriels. Feeling like a dumbass but who cared because no one else would see it he added ‘dilf’ after it so he wouldn’t forget that Mr. Reyes was the hot dad he was lusting after. How Jack could fucking forget he had no idea but it amused him regardless. With that, he went to his car to head home to grade his papers and try very hard not to just randomly text Mr. Reyes even though he really wanted to.

—

The next morning Jack sent an email out to the appropriate teachers about what he was doing to help Jesse and they said they’d have work sent over to him before the end of the day. Between having to actually work Jack pretended to be working very seriously on his tablet but was really thinking about the fact that he was going over to the Reyes’ again so soon. By the end of the day all the homework had made its way to him and after he’d stayed a while after class was over to do some work and grading he decided he’d spent enough time at work and packed up his things. He put Jesse’s work in its own folder and went down to his car.

He sort of remembered the way to the Reyes’ but not entirely. He wasn’t sure if he’d made himself forget it to have an excuse to text Mr. Reyes or he’d actually forgotten but he couldn’t remember it now. So he texted Mr. Reyes and then waited on the side of the road for a response. ‘Sorry!’ and then the full address. Why was he sorry? For making Jack wait? Well, that was nice.

But he had the address now so the GPS in his car could tell him exactly where to go. He parked out front of the house, rung the doorbell and waited. Nothing happened. He rang it again. “Just a second!” he heard Mr. Reyes yell from inside. So Jack waited and then the door opened.

“Uh… Mr. Reyes— you have something on your head,” he said, pointing a little at Gabby who had somehow climbed all over her father’s head and shoulders like an Alien face hugger.

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “And I said, call me Gabriel, or I’m going to call you Mr. Morrison.”

Jack winced a little. “Okay, point taken. Do you want some help with that?” Mr. Reyes just looked like he’d given up on having his three-year-old on his face and accepted his fate. He looked like a broken man. He didn’t really answer but Jack pried Gabby off her father anyway. She stared at him like she couldn’t believe he’d just done that and was struck still in confusion. She looked at Mr. Reyes to make sure this was really happening, then at Jack, then back at her father.

Then, still looking at her father she pointed at Jack and said, “ _Gringo_.”

Mr. Reyes was mortified. He grabbed her out of Jack’s hands and scolded her. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “She really does know better than that,” he assured Jack.

“It’s alright. I’ve literally been called worse than white by a three-year-old,” Jack said with an easy shrug.

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Reyes said again. “Right, you’re here to give Jesse his school work, come in,” he stood aside so Jack could come in.

“Where is he?” Jack expected him to be laid out on the couch like he had when he’d left him the day before.

“In his room.”

Jack saw Mr. Reyes starting to have to struggle with his daughter again as she tried to climb out of his arms. “Uh… I can go give it to him if you want. Just tell me which room is his.”

Mr. Reyes just pointed before peeling Gabby off his face. Jack left him to that and went to Jesse’s room. He knocked. “Yeah?” Jesse called from inside. Jack opened the door slowly. “Mr. Morrison? What are you doing here?”

“Your dad didn’t tell you I’d be bringing your school work?”

“What?” Jesse sat up. “I have to do school work too like this?” He groaned and thumped back down on the bed dramatically.

“Don’t blame me, blame your dad. He agreed to it.” Jack stepped further into the room and put the thin folder on his desk.

Jesse just sighed. “Thanks, I guess,” he grumbled.

“Don’t feel pressured to do it all. You’re resting after all,” Jack said and when Jesse looked at him from his sullen position Jack winked at him. Jesse smirked. “Feel better. I’ll see you tomorrow when I bring tomorrow’s work.”

“Sure. Bye, Mr. Morrison.”

Jack retreated from Jesse’s room and found that Mr. Reyes had succeeded in fully prying Gabby off his face by putting her in front of cartoons. He seemed absolutely haggard and his curly hair was a mess from Gabby grabbing at it. “Well, delivery accomplished,” Jack said.

“Great. Now he’ll have something to do tomorrow instead of moping around. Thanks for bringing it over.”

“He did not feel the same way,” Jack said and headed for the door. “Should I wait until you come home tomorrow to bring Jesse’s work?”

“I’m actually working tomorrow night. There’ll be a baby sister most likely.”

“Oh. Then I’ll try and come early so I don’t show up as a random guy who wants to see Jesse.”

That amused Mr. Reyes and he opened the door for Jack. “Fair enough. Just let me know when you’re coming over. If I’m not here I’ll tell the babysitter.”

“Have a nice night miste- Gabriel,” he corrected himself.

“Goodbye, Jack,” he said with something like a smile and Jack walked out. He didn’t skip exactly but there was a spring in his step on the way back to his car.

—

Gabe was napping on the couch before work. He’d be up all night tonight so needed to get some extra sleep in before he went on shift. He wasn’t looking forward to it since it’d mean leaving Jesse alone and the kid was more accident prone than ever. And he’d had to hire a babysitter which was always nerve wracking. He’d gotten Jesse when he was old enough to not need a babysitter and usually he’d just make Jesse watch Gabby when he went out but with Jesse laid out in bed he actually needed someone to watch his daughter. So he’d had to hire someone. Hopefully, it’d work out.

He woke at some point when Gabby came and laid on him but went right back to sleep. His phone would wake him up when he needed to get ready for work and he was expecting it. He was not expecting the doorbell. He groaned in annoyance and opened one eye. Who the fuck was that? It was too early for the babysitter. With a sigh Gabe sat up, catching Gabby as she slid down into his lap and left her on the couch to finish her nap.

He opened the door squinting in the late afternoon light and then blinked himself awake. Oh. Right. Jack said he was bringing over Jesse’s school work. Gabe hoped he didn’t look like he just dragged himself out of bed and resisted the urge to pat his hair but realized he was wearing his hat. Oh good, crisis adverted. Bad enough Jack had had to witness Gabby turning it into a rat’s nest yesterday and he wasn’t sure he hadn’t gotten all the three-year-old drool out of it despite the shower. “Sorry, did I come at a bad time?” Jack asked. “I did text and say I was coming.”

“No worries,” Gabe said. He’d slept right through the alerts. Then he noticed Jack was holding a drink tray. “What’s that for?”

“Oh… I just thought if you were doing the night shift you could use some caffeine before you started,” Jack said and looked really self-conscious about it.

A smile pulled at one side of Gabe’s mouth. “Thanks. That’s really considerate of you. Come in.” He opened the door the rest of the way so Jack could come in. “I assume one of those is for Jesse?”

“To keep away the doldrums of having to do his school work at home,” Jack said.

Gabe wondered if Jack knew how transparent he was. Not that Gabe was complaining. It was rather endearing and cute and since Gabe had adopted Jesse he’d come to appreciate ‘cute’ like he hadn’t before. It helped that he was good looking and just genuinely a nice guy. Didn’t know how to be subtle to save his life but that was okay. “If you aren’t Jesse’s favorite teacher after this we’re going to have to have a talk.” Jack just laughed and put the tray on the kitchen counter. “I’ll take it to him,” he said and picked out the smaller cup he figured was for Jesse. Jack handed him the work and he went into his son’s room where Jesse was playing on his phone.

“Hey, dad,” he said distractedly. Gabe came and sat on his bed so he looked over the screen. “What’s that?”

“Your stupid Starbucks order,” he put it on his nightstand.

“You got me Starbucks again? Wow, you must be in a good mood,” Jesse said.

“No. Your teacher brought it when he brought over your school work-“ Jesse groaned in annoyance as Gabe showed him the folder.

“Can we just _pretend_ I do all this work?”

“Afraid not, kiddo,” Gabe said. “You need to keep up with your schooling.”

Jesse sighed. “Can one of my friends come over after dinner?”

“Depends. Which one?”

“Genji.”

Gabe had to think about that. “That depends.” Jesse wrinkled his brow at him in confusion. “You going to do something stupid if he’s over here?”

“What? Pfft, no,” Jesse scoffed.

“Cause the last time you hung out this happened,” he patted Jesse’s leg making him wince a little but Gabe knew it wasn’t so much painful as just very sore.

“What? No? That-

“Oh, so you weren’t showing off to Genji when you fell down a flight of stairs?” Gabe gave him a look.

Jesse’s face turned a little pink. “Well-

“He can come over. Two rules,” he held up two fingers. “One. Door stays open if he does-

“Daaaad. What the hell do you think we’re gonna do?”

Gabe gave him a look, “I know you think I’m old but I know what fifteen-year-olds are like, I was one.”

“Gabe!” he yelled and slapped his hands over his face. “Why did you have to say that? That’s so _gross_.”

Gabe just chuckled. “And two. You absolutely _must_ use your crutches if you want to get out of bed. Sound fair?”

“Uuuuuhg, I guess,” Jesse groaned, face still hidden behind his hands.

“I’ll tell Mr. Morrison you said thank you for the drink,” Gabe said, patted Jesse’s non-hurt knee and got up. “And do some of your homework while I’m gone.”

“Alright,” Jesse was still acting like he was dying because Gabe had even eluded to sexual things.

Gabe left Jesse to his internal torment and went back out to the living room. There he found Jack crouched in front of his daughter. “I don’t think you’ll like it. Are you sure you want to try it?” he was asking her. He was holding his own coffee.

“ _Sí_ ,” she said, nodding.

“It just smells like chocolate.”

“I want to try,” she said sternly.

“Alright, _chica_. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” and he pulled off the top of his coffee and put a little in the underside of the lid for her to sip. Gabe didn’t even need to see her face when she tasted it and then immediately threw the lid down in disgust. Gabe laughed.

“Bad chocolate!” she cried.

“I did tell you it’d taste bad,” Jack said as he picked up the lid for his coffee and stood.

“Papí, esto sabe feo,” Gabby said and pointed at Jack accusatory.

“He told you it’d taste gross and you still drank it. That’s on you,” he said.

“¿Por qué bebería algo que sabe tan feo?”

“Because adults have no taste.”

“That’s for sure,” she grimaced one more time and went back to her cartoons.

Jack was rinsing his lid off in the sink. “Jesse says thanks for the Starbucks. You really didn’t have to,” Gabe said even as he picked up his own. It was the biggest size they had and he tasted it. It was literally exactly what he’d ordered the other day when he’d taken Jack out to get a drink only bigger.

“It wasn’t a bother.”

“Uh-huh,” Gabe said, taking a real sip of his coffee. Gabe knew what he was doing. He wasn’t sure if he was actually interested or not but he appreciated it. Sometimes he really felt like an old guy with a fifteen year old son and a three year old who could run him absolutely ragged. It was nice to be reminded he wasn’t that old yet.

“Well, I know you have to get ready for work. Fighting crime and all that,” Jack said and snorted. “I don’t want to take up more of your time.”

Gabe followed Jack to the door. “Thanks again, Jack,” he said and leaned against the door frame as Jack opened the door.

“No problem.”

Honestly, Gabe just wanted to see what would happen. “I’ll buy next time,” and winked at him.

To his credit of trying to remain professional around his student’s parent Jack face didn’t change at all. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said and closed the door. Gabe waited a second and then peered out from behind the curtain. He couldn’t see Jack, meaning he was standing just on the other side of the door. He stood there a good thirty seconds and he snorted when he positively strutted down to the sidewalk. Yeah, okay. He was pretty cute.

Gabe made himself something to eat and helped Jesse to his desk so he could do some work before getting dressed for work. Fifteen minutes before they were supposed to show the babysitter came to get acquainted with the place like the sitting service said they would. They were very intimidated by him in his uniform, even without his belt on, but Gabe didn’t it let it affect him. He showed them around the house and the emergency numbers list and where things were and Jesse who was useless and pissy about needing a babysitter. Gabe just told them to ignore Jesse’s whining. Then he introduced them to Gabby who’d been ignoring them the entire time. Gabe was a bit worried about the look of absolute evil in her eyes when Gabe said this was her babysitter but the babysitter assured him that kids usually got upset when their parents left for the first time but kids loved them in the end. Gabe wanted to believe that so he did.

He managed to leave on time despite Gabby following him around everywhere. As he was leaving a kid was walking up his driveway. He knew most of Jesse’s friends including Genji, even if his son’s crush on him was a recent development. Who the fuck was this green haired kid? “Hey, Mr. Reyes,” they said when they saw him.

Gabe looked down at them. “Who’re you?”

“Uh… Genji Shimada?” he said with uncertainty.

Gabe just rose a brow at him. “Nice hair. Don’t let Jesse do anything stupid _again_ ,“ and he gave Genji a look. Genji at least had the wherewithal to flush. “And go home at an appropriate hour. I know Jesse doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow but you do and I don’t need your father’s angry phone call when you get home at eleven. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” he nodded and Gabe let him into the house before heading for his car.

Later he got a phone call from an unknown number. He and Amélie were just driving on the highway being dickhead cops looking for people speeding or out of date plates. “Gabriel Reyes speaking,” he said when he answered.

“Mr. Reyes, it’s Angela.” Oh god. Why was the babysitter calling? Someone better not have died or gone to the hospital. He’d been on the job for only four hours and still had about six ahead of him. “I’m just calling to tell you, I quit.”

Gabe blinked. “What? You quit?”

“Yeah. I quit. Your daughter is a nightmare.”

“I’m paying you to stay there,” Gabe said.

“I’d rather not get paid than keep dealing with this. So. I quit,” and then she hung up.

“Now what?” Amélie asked as they drove and Gabe stared at his phone.

“My babysitter just walked out on the job,” Gabe said.

“Wow. Really? Tough luck.”

“Amélie I have a god damn three-year-old at home with two useless teenagers. Now is not the time for your unsympathetic bullshit,” Gabe groused as a text came in.

“Do you want to stop off there for a few minutes. Make sure everything alright?” she asked.

Gabe groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “I… guess,” he said, feeling helpless. Not like he could just _leave_ then there alone. But he couldn’t stay. He wondered how much trouble he’d get into if he put his daughter in the back seat while on patrol. Amélie put on the lights but not the siren and made an otherwise illegal turn to go back the way they’d come. What the hell was he going to do? It was almost nine. He couldn’t find a babysitter at _nine_. He glanced at his phone again feeling very tired. His lips twitched despite himself. Seemed he’d finally worked up the courage to text him other than to ask where he lived. ‘Coffee still helping?’

Knowing they were pretty far from Gabe’s house because he didn’t work in the same district he lived and they could only get there so fast and he really didn’t want to think about this Gabe humored him with an answer. ‘I could honestly use a shot at this point’

‘??’ ‘Something bad happen?’

‘My babysitter quit on me’

They had to sit at a red light because police car or not there was still a steady flow of traffic across the road. ‘That’s terrible!’

“You seem pretty easy going about this,” Amélie said as the light turned green.

“I’m just dead inside,” he sighed. Amélie snickered.

‘What are you going to do?’ Jack asked.

‘Going back home to make sure everything’s alright. It’ll be awhile. Traffic’s terrible’. As he sent that he sighed. Amélie turned the siren on but it only helped so much. It was nine on a Thursday. What weren’t people going out were taxis, or ride shares and the already busy LA roads were even busier because it was ‘date night’.

His brows went up when Jack replied, ‘I could check on them if you wanted’ ‘if that’s not too weird I mean’.

“Amélie,” he said as they waited for cars to move out of their way so they could drive through. Every now and then she’d make the siren whirl for a second or so to remind people to get the fuck out of the way.

“Yeah?”

“We don’t need to rush.”

“Really? Everything alright?”

“Someone’s going to go check on them for me.”

“Well let’s get through this intersection first,” she said, bullying past the rest of traffic.

‘I’d really appreciate it and would owe you one if you went and checked on them,’ Gabe told Jack. Then he sighed and pressed his hand over his eyes. “I can’t _believe_ Gabby drove the babysitter away. " Si no la amara tanto la mataría” He checked his phone again. No messages.

“Sounds like your spawn,” was all Amélie said. He glared at her from the passenger seat and she just shrugged. They made it through the light and she turned off the flasher.

Took them over half an hour to get back to Gabe’s house. “I’ll be right back.” Amélie sat back and opened her phone. He caught her smiling at it as he walked to the house and braced himself for some disaster. So he was very pleasantly surprised that the place didn’t look destroyed and he didn’t hear any screaming. He remembered taking Gabby to daycare the first day. There had been a lot of screaming and crying. Instead he just saw Jesse and Genji sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Hey dad,” Jesse said, raising his hand in hello.

“Hey, Mr. Reyes.”

“What happened here? What did Gabby do?”

“I dunno. I was in my bedroom. Then we just heard some yelling in Spanish. Also, she was cursing out the babysitter in Spanish.”

Gabe sighed. “Did Jack show up?” he asked. Why was this happening tonight?

“Yeah, like twenty minutes ago. And before you ask, yes I did use my crutches to get the door.”

“Good. Genji, I’m sure you didn’t cause any issues tonight but I’m going to ask you to go home for the night.”

“Oh. Sure thing Mr. Reyes,” Genji said. Gabe still couldn’t get over his green hair.

Gabe walked past them to the bedrooms. The house was only a two bedroom but Gabe had converted the big walk in closet in his room into a mini bedroom after Gabby had been ‘dumped on him’. He found Gabby in there with Jack. It was really kinda funny. Jack did not look _at all_ like a guy who got along good with kids. He looked like your mean junior high teacher who drank hard on the weekends and assigned homework every day. The scar on his face didn’t help with his image. At least most of the time. He smiled nice at least. Gabe leaned against the door frame, wondering when one of them would notice him first. Gabby was totally zoned out and looked about to pass out while Jack kept her engaged with some of her dolls.

Gabe stood there a few minutes before Gabby just flopped over to her side, asleep. “About time,” he heard Jack mutter. Gabe chuckled and his head shot up. “Oh- Mr. Reyes-

“Jack. I really don’t like repeating myself. Call me Gabriel.”

Well that completely shorted out his brain. It took Jack a second too long to go, “Right. Sorry, Gabriel,” he said.

Gabe walked into his room and picked his daughter up like you would a cat so her arms and legs hung down. “Thanks for coming by,” Gabe said as Jack pushed himself to his feet. “She didn’t act nightmarish to you did she?”

“No. She was fine,” Jack said. “I can’t believe your babysitter quit on you just like that. So unprofessional.”

“I’m saying,” Gabe said and went over to the gutted closet which was big enough for a crib, a little bit of walking room, and about four boxes of toys because Gabe was an absolute pushover. It used to have a changing table in it too but thankfully Gabe didn’t need that anymore. He just put Gabby into the crib fully clothed. He’d deal with getting her into some pajamas when he got off shift later that night.

Jack was still standing in his bedroom when he closed the door. “I think that’s it, really,” Gabe sighed. “Thankfully nothing caught on fire. Right?”

“Well…

“Was something on fire?” he asked, horrified.

“Not _exactly_. Jesse let me in and between the sitter quitting and be showing up she’d somehow managed to open the fridge.” Gabe pressed his hand to his eyes preemptively. “I literally found her _in_ the fridge.”

“¿Por qué es así?” he groaned. “Jesse and Genji didn’t notice?”

“Apparently not. She’d managed to knock some stuff out of the fridge. It was pretty messy.”

Gabe needed a few seconds to process that. Jack had found Gabby making a mess and had not only dealt with her he’d cleaned up the fucking mess. He deflated a little. “Thank you, so much,” he said. “I really owe you one.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make it up to me,” Jack said. Gabe would worry about _that_ later. At the very least now that Gabby was asleep she’d stay asleep all night so he didn’t have to worry about it.

“I need to get back to work.”

“Right. Same. I thought it’d take you longer to get here.”

“Perks of being in a cop car; people get the hell out of your way,” Gabe said as they left his bedroom.

“In this city that must be an amazing perk.”

“Yeah it- Genji! I told you to go home. You can make out with my son later,” he said, spotting his tuft of green hair from behind the couch.

Jesse’s head appeared over the back of the couch. “Gabe, what the fuck-

“And watch your language.”

“We weren’t doing anything,” and based on the fact that Genji was now leaned over his knees, hands over his face Gabe believed them.

“Regardless. Go home.”

“Bye Jesse,” and Genji was out of his house in record time.

“Uhg, you’re so embarrassing,” Jesse groaned, sitting the right way on the couch.

Gabe went over and grabbed the top of his fondly. “I’m your dad. That’s my job.” He gave Jesse’s hair a ruffle. “Now your sister’s asleep. So try to keep it down. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and I’ll see you in the morning. Alright?”

“I guess,” Jesse wasn’t having it this time.

“Don’t be up when I get home.”

“Alrighhht already,” Jesse groused.

Gabe left him alone and he and Jack left the house. Gabe locked the door behind him just to be safe. “Thanks again,” Gabe said. “I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if you hadn’t come over.”

“It’s fine,” Jack said. “You just owe me one.”

“Right. We’ll figure that out later. I need to get back to work before my lovely partner snitches on me.”

Jack frowned a little. “Why would they do that?”

Gabe did not want to get into it. “I’ll call you,” was what he said instead and got to watch every other worry in Jack’s head just totally not matter. Okay. That was _pretty_ cute. He half jogged back to the cruiser and got in.

“Who’s that?” Amélie asked as he closed the door. Jack was only now halfway to his car. “He’s cute.”

“Shut up Amélie,” Gabe said.

She looked over at him with an annoying side eye. “He yours too?”

“Shut _up_ Amélie.” This was what he meant about his partner snitching. Amélie _loved_ know others personal lives. Helped her feel alive since her husband was away in Europe. She’d also tell everyone in the precinct. Not that anyone but Gabe knew that she was how all the rumors started. As it was she’d broken up _three_ marriages so Gabe jokingly called her widowmaker for it because it was the only nickname that could pierce her icy heart without her husband around.

“What’s his name? You haven’t mentioned him before-

“Lacroix just fucking drive!” Gabe yelled.

She snickered and put the car into drive, pulling away from the curb. They were about four blocks away when she said, “I didn’t know you liked white guys, Gabe.”

“Woman!” he cried and she laughed at that.

At the very least the rest of the night was uneventful.

—

Jack tempered his expectations a bit after Friday. Gabriel had said he’d call him and he hadn’t on Friday and Jack had had to talk himself into not thinking Gabriel had changed his mind. He was probably sleeping late and then had work and the time he was available Jack was at work. So it was just a scheduling conflict. He’d been out of the house when Jack had gone to drop off Jesse’s school work, so Jesse ha answered the door and said his dad he was at the store to replace some of the things Gabby had destroyed the night before. Jack had gone home and sulked into a box of middle eastern food while grading papers and watching TV.

But Saturday. Saturday morning he lay in his bed, awake, staring at the ceiling while his radio played. If Gabriel didn’t call today _he_ was calling because fuck this. There was no way Gabriel wasn’t interested in him with all this shit that had happened the past few days. Jack didn’t think he was that obvious but Gabriel had made a very obviously made a pass at him. It was exhilarating, and also stressful. Was this against any sort of school rule? He didn’t think so. He couldn’t remember honestly but he was pretty sure there was nothing saying he couldn’t have a relationship with the parent of one of the kids’ at school, just the kids themselves which was fucking gross.

He didn’t let himself build it up too much in his head so he couldn’t be disappointed. Around nine he rolled out of bed and tried to be productive. He went to his building’s gym and when he came back he showered and ate something like a breakfast. Then he spent the time between then and lunch grading papers. He had an endless supply of papers to grade. Sometimes he wanted to just make them completion assignments where he didn’t actually have to look at the answers, just see if they’d made any sort of attempt, and give it a ‘c’. But that felt cheap for both him and the kids and he staggered his assignments for a reason as it was.

Jack was about to get up and make lunch when his phone rang. He answered it without looking as he checked off several wrong answers on someone’s test. “Hello, Morrison speaking.”

“Jack? Hey, it’s Gabriel.”

Jack almost stabbed himself in the leg with his pen. “Gabriel. Hi,” he did his best not to sound too excited and he was pretty sure his voice didn’t crack. Shit had it cracked? He would have died on the spot if it had so he didn’t think so.

“Hey. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Gabriel said.

“No. I was just doing some grading. Pretty boring, standard stuff.”

“Sounds boring,” Gabriel agreed. There was a moment of silence before he said, “So, I said I’d owe you one. I was thinking maybe you wanted to go out to dinner?”

Be cool Jack. Fucking. Be cool. “And what makes you think that?”

“So you don’t?”

Well shit. He had him there. “I didn’t say that.”

“Good. You available tonight?”

“You find another babysitter?”

“You let me worry about that,” and the way he said it just gave Jack goosebumps. Kinda like Thursday when he’d told Jack he didn’t like repeating himself. Sort of threatening, and very fucking sexy. “Are you?”

“Uh-huh,” Jack said dumbly. “I mean, yeah. I’m available.”

“Alright. Since I owe you one, you get to pick where we’re going.”

“Nothing comes to mind off the top of my head. I don’t really eat out.” He usually had food delivered because going out to eat by yourself to dinner was sad and he wasn’t that fucking lonely.

“Then get back to me on it, and if I need to wear a nice shirt.”

Jack’s instant thought was did Gabriel own normal shirts as tight as his uniform? God he hoped so. “Okay. I’ll text you the address when I find somewhere.”

“Sounds good. See you there.” Then Gabriel hung up.

Jack melted into the couch for a few seconds. Then he sat bolt upright with a yell. Holy shit. Holy shit! He was actually going on a date. Holy shit. He hadn’t gone on an actual date in almost five years. He hadn’t gone on a date since he’d gotten this teaching gig. And before that he’d only dated a little while in service. Holy shit. How did he date? How did dates work again? Shit he told Gabriel he’d find a place for them to go. He checked the time and saw it was around one. He needed to relax and not stress out or he’d make himself sick. He had time to figure out a place to go. He put his grading work away and dragged his tablet over so he could do some Googling for restaurants. The trouble was that this was LA there were literally amazing restaurants within spitting distance of each other.

He spent about half an hour looking for places that were supposedly good date places until he found one that wasn’t too fancy, wasn’t too expensive, and wasn’t too casual or cheap either. ‘How’s Norah in West Hollywood sound?’ he texted Gabriel. Best to ask since they weren’t exactly super close to West Hollywood.

‘That’s fine. Send me the address’

Before Jack did that he called to make reservations. He didn’t want to make them too late because he knew Gabriel had to get home to his kids even though it was a Saturday. Not to mention the threat of Gabby making another babysitter quit was very real. He ended up making the reservation for five forty-five so they could be home relatively early. Once the reservations were done he sent Gabriel the address and time of their reservation and that yes, Gabriel should wear a nice shirt.

That done Jack just laid down for about twenty minutes wondering how great and weird his life had gone that he was going on a date with a hot police officer who was also one of his students dad. Once he’d wondered at it enough to sat back up and returned to grading papers for another two hours while being distracted by the TV and notifications on his tablet. Then he went and showered very thoroughly. He wanted to at least smell nice. He shaved and styled his hair, probably taking way too long to get his hair gel to capture that perfect ‘spent no time on my hair’ look he usually half-assed when he went to work. He took ten minutes deciding on a color shirt to wear once he finally made it into his bedroom to get dressed. Then once he’d decided on a shirt he had to decide on the pants. Did he goes slacks or jeans and if he went jeans should they be dark wash or light wash? Lastly he had to worry about underwear. He didn’t think anything would happen but _just in case_ he wanted to wear some nice ones. He picked out some that made his ass look good and decided he looked good.

He looked at himself in the mirror. “You’re a fucking disaster is what you are,” he told his reflection.

He did wish there was something he could do about the facial scarring but that wasn’t going to happen unless he wanted to go full makeup concealer like he had when he’d applied for the teaching job and had worked it a few months. He’d been really self conscious about it then. Then one day he’d just forgot about it because he was running late. He’d been really uncomfortable about teaching until one of his kids went, ‘Dang Mr. Morrison, you look fucking sick.’ After Jack had reminded him not to swear in his classroom everyone had agreed Mr. Morrison looked ‘dope’. Gabriel had only known him with the scars so if he covered it up it’d just look weird to him. Still. He rubbed the bridge of his nose self-consciously across the old shrapnel scar and wished he didn’t have them. Nothing he could do about that now. Just had to deal with it.

Satisfied he looked as good as he could possibly get he gathered up his things making sure he had his phone, keys, and wallet and headed out the door. He took one step outside and realized he hadn’t put on shoes. Cursing himself he went back inside to put on socks and shoes. He _doubled checked_ that he was now actually ready and made sure he was wearing all his clothes and a belt and had all his things. The second time he tried to leave he did so without hassle and went down to the parking lot to get his car.

The drive to the restaurant was uneventful and at every red light he wondered what Gabriel was going to be wearing and if he actually owned a shirt that fit him properly or if he just owned shirts that were too tight. Really he wouldn’t mind either way. He got to the restaurant a few minutes early and got out to check on his the reservation. It was ready and Jack texted Gabriel to say he was sitting down and just tell the host when he got there. He got a text back of, ‘Sorry. Stuck in some traffic. I’m like 10 mins out’. Jack frowned at that but did understand. LA traffic was the worst. While he waited he ordered a drink and even though Gabriel said ten minutes he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d been stood up on a date. Self-consciously he rubbed the tip of his finger against the scar on his cheek and managed to drink his entire drink. Shit. Guess it was water the rest of the night so he could drive home.

But true to form, about ten minutes later Gabriel was being shown to the table. “Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late,” he said as he sat down.

Jack suddenly felt very underdressed. He was wearing a jacket. Like a very nice dinner jacket but not quite a blazer and it didn’t have any buttons. It also fit him perfectly and wasn’t black but wine red and holy shit. Gabriel also apparently didn’t own any shirts that weren’t tight across the chest because his button down was a bit tight. Not enough to pull at the darts but tight enough. It took him a second to remember how talking worked because holy shit he looked so hot out of his uniform. “It’s fine. I know how traffic is,” he said. Had he gotten a hair cut that day? He swore Gabriel had a full head of hair two days ago but now it was shaved high and tight along the sides so there was just a bit of a curly fohawk on top. Jack wanted to touch it really bad because it looked so soft but he knew well enough to just not bother asking to touch black people’s hair unless you knew them really well. Now Jack hoped he got lucky because it’d be a great excuse to see if Gabriel’s hair was as soft as it looked.

“You ever been here before?” Gabriel asked him.

“Hmm? No. First time. It’s supposed to be really good, though.”

Gabriel looked at the menu. Jack had already decided and he sensed Gabriel wanted to pick something first before talking because he’d made Jack waiting ten minutes. When their waiter came around to ask if they were ready Gabriel ordered without hesitation and ordered a drink too. Jack ordered an iced tea which was about as ‘adult’ as the non-alcoholic drinks at Norah came. The waiter left with their menus and it was just them.

At least it was a little awkward. Like they were both aware that Jack was Jesse’s teacher but then Gabriel asked about what he actually taught at school and things were easier. Better than just ignoring the elephant in the room. Really the conversation wasn’t about anything, just themselves. Like Jack learned about Gabriel’s partner Amélie and what he did on the force which really sounded rather boring the way Gabriel described it. He didn’t share anything Jack didn’t ask about so Jack didn’t pry and Gabriel seemed more comfortable asking Jack about himself anyway. By the time their food had arrived Jack did have to ask if he was talking too much because he felt like it. “No, you’re fine. I like hearing what you have to say.” Jack had almost melted at that.

They ended up staying at their table a while even after their dinner was done when Gabriel’s phone started vibrating. “Sorry,” he said and opened it. He frowned.

“Everything alright?” Jack asked him.

“S.O.S.” he said.

“Uh-oh.” Gabriel had already paid for dinner so they just got up and headed out. “I take it it’s Gabby?”

“That or someone did something stupid,” Gabriel sighed. “Sorry I have to cut it off early.”

“It’s okay. I honestly thought you’d want an early night so you didn’t have to worry about another babysitter quitting on you,” Jack said.

“Heh… yeah. Not using that service again,” Gabriel sighed.

“Maybe we could try lunch next time?” Jack ventured and hoped he wasn’t reaching. The look Gabriel gave him gave him so much hope to he didn’t think he’d misspoken.

“Next time, huh?” he asked, a look that Jack could only describe as sly on his face. Jack nodded a little, hopeful. “Dinner was nice and you picked a nice place. Yeah, I think that’d be alright.”

Jack refrained from doing a fist pump, even though he really wanted to. “Sounds good. Obviously I work during the day but I’m free on the weekends. Just let me know when you’re available.”

“I’ll call, that sound alright?” Gabriel asked. Jack nodded. “Alright then. Goodnight, Jack, I enjoyed tonight.”

Then to Jack’s immense surprise and delight Gabriel leaned over and pressed a closed mouth kiss to his lips. It lasted about two seconds and then he walked away and Jack was just standing there, staring after him for a few seconds. Then his brain actually processed what had just happened and _now_ he fist pumped. Thankfully there was no one else outside the restaurant to see him. Jack wouldn’t admit he skipped later but he definitely skipped _a little_ back to his care. First date in five years and it had ended so good. What a great fucking date.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos are great, comments are even better, even if it's just to say 'this was cute!'. I appreciate all of them and let me know you appreciate me too.
> 
> English->Spanish translations are [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eHBwtWFUcvqViu188GSZ183oD2o4NVkltaUog3bG2EU/edit?usp=sharing)


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